saxophonist/composer/bandleader

Solo

In his solo saxophone performances, Brodie West can sanctify a space, blocking out background distractions to draw listeners in to meditate on the purity of his sounds. But he can also transcend musical solipsism by engaging his environment in a sort of pantheistic duet, embroidering riffs and tune-fragments to the muttered hubbub of background chatter or the swoop of a hawk landing in a nearby tree. When heard in parks or playgrounds, his music can detour into the satisfied drift of a toddler at play, a spirit that endures even in a darkened late-night performance space.

Alexandra Park is a visualized space, both open and closed, created and stumbled upon. Vibrations, when left alone, sometimes deflect off walls, and sometimes dissipate in the wind; Quavering into un-expected tensions. A concealed instinct provoked to be un-covered, either boiling over, or imploding. The excursive reflex in solitude, an honest, firm release, a slow-seeping pressure torn into segmented voices. Passive elation. Un-groomed and un-adorned save for the semblance of textures plucked from air. Pruned, then inserted into an un-specified vessel. An Oration of these impulses. Compressed intention, searing and solidified, otherwise raked back into ether, or left to saturate. Fighting all impulse to expand, hot and cold currents scrape against each other, and resolve in the breath’s distress. Ripped document. Wind Decision and the contraction of it’s opposite. The tongues astuteness sabotaged by fingered back-fires. Nerves catching the light, but never distracted. Minuscule discoveries left exactly as found: Always skirting silence. Controlled awareness of the overgrown. Breath as thought, rinsed. Acute. Conversations in solitude. Sometimes we hear, sometimes we’re shown, sometimes we wander alone…But never truly alone, Brodie West’s solitary saxscapes are constantly conversing with reflections just out of ear-shot.

The Law of The Meander

Brodie West Alto Saxophoneall songs mastered by Matt Smithall compositions Brodie West (SOCAN) Recorded in Toronto, May 2012pictured is the Silver Snake River of Western Idaho

Review in EXCLAIM MAGAZINEby nick storring

"Brodie West's breathily angular sax tone has never been presented with such intimacy as on this odd little solo tape from Toronto, ON's Healing Power. West is known as a member of various Toronto outfits, including Drumheller and Eucalyptus, as well as a collaborator with Dutch avant-punks the Ex and legendary free-jazz drummer Han Bennink, not to mention celebrated Ethiopian musicians such as Getachew Mekuria. West's style, which is full of curt, slippery phrases and tentative-sounding tangents, can definitely be disconcerting upon first listen; it's almost as though you're eavesdropping on him humming to himself as he does the dishes, or glancing at a few smudged bars of a tune jotted on the back of a napkin. However, it's apparent that the curious, soggy sound world heard on The Law of the Meander is something unique, rich and cultivated. He's using various neglected spectra of the instrument to articulate a gently fractured lyricism that's completely his. It's a humble and highly personal contribution to a lineage that can eventually be traced back to Monk and Ornette. (Healing Power)"